Event Details

Professor Duchess Harris, American Studies, will present “Blacks in Paris: African American Culture in Europe." She will discuss why she thought it was important to write a book for Middle School students about this topic. She will elaborate on how African American culture shaped Paris in the Jazz Age and beyond.  In the years following World War I, many African American performers — including luminaries such as Josephine Baker, and Eugene Bullard — felt accepted in Paris, thousands of miles from the States. They were followed by novelists such as Richard Wright and James Baldwin.  Professor Harris will ask the audience to join her in a discussion about how African American culture can be learned in the context of European history.